


leave it unspoken

by skyparents



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Ant-Man (2015) Spoilers, Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) Spoilers, F/M, POV Outsider, Really just follows the canon plot but from Hank's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24673138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyparents/pseuds/skyparents
Summary: scott seems like a good choice for the job, and everything is going just fine. the obvious dislike simmering between the recruit and his daughter isn't ideal – just because the sassy comments and eye rolls and, well, face punches, they get in the way of their productivity – but eventually, hope and scott begin to find some common ground. gradually. like testing out ice before they step. early on, hank thinks that’s all there is to it: two people who distinctly do not like each other, painstakingly learning how to work together as a team. later, he thinks maybe he was sort of blind.or, hank takes a look at his daughter's relationship with scott lang.
Relationships: Scott Lang/Hope Van Dyne
Comments: 9
Kudos: 56





	leave it unspoken

**Author's Note:**

> anyone miss scotthope as much as i do? anyone else sad that the scotthope tag on here is mostly just other mcu fics with very minor background scotthope? well, i'm here with a tiny little nugget of major scotthope, just for you. technically, this was started, like, two years ago in response to a cc prompt, but i just stumbled upon it again and wanted to finish it in an attempt to get my writing muse back. so i hope y'all like it!

When he first brings Scott in, it’s only because he, rather desperately, doesn’t want his daughter to wear the Antman suit. Maybe they haven’t had a good or even decent relationship for years, but there is this bullheaded stubbornness boiling in Hank’s veins; she keeps hinting, subtlety straight out the window, that she wants to be the one to do it, and he keeps gruffly answering  _ no, not a chance _ . He searches high and low for the perfect person and stumbles upon his decision around the time when things are getting critical, so he has to enact the plan more quickly than he’d like. It’s messy and complicated and Hank manages to pull it off without  _ too _ many issues, and she’s all narrowed eyes and crossed arms, sighing heavily and pointedly whenever Scott enters or leaves a room. But if it’s down to either Hope getting in the suit or Hope continuing to hate him with all that fiery determination she inherited from her mother – Hank will take her anger any day.

(As far as he’s concerned, she’s never putting that suit on, and she will remain safely regular-person sized for her whole entire life. He’ll change his mind about that once she begins to soften a little in his direction. The Wasp suit has been sitting unfinished for most of her life, now. It’s about damn time it got put to use.)

But this is about  _ Scott. _ Really, he seems like a good choice for the job. Smart in that way that is so often underestimated, creative, quick to think on his feet. Hank has always had an eye for picking the best ones, Darren excluded, and everything is going just fine. A few hiccups here and there, but nothing they can’t handle. Everything is under control. The obvious  _ dislike _ simmering between the recruit and his daughter isn’t ideal – just because the sassy comments and eye rolls and, well, face punches, they get in the way of their productivity – but eventually, Hope and Scott begin to find some common ground. Gradually. Like testing out ice before they step. Actually, a little more like pulling teeth, but Hank will deal with it.

Early on, Hank thinks that’s all there is to it: Two people who distinctly do not like each other, painstakingly learning how to work together as a team.

Later, he thinks maybe he was sort of blind.

He should have seen it coming, but it takes him entirely by surprise when he opens that door and they’re – he doesn’t even want to think about it. His relationship with his daughter might have been flawed for a small eternity, and she might be a fully-grown adult now, but that’s his  _ little girl. _

Scott is smart, for a moment there, to duck out of the interaction at the earliest opportunity.  _ Really, Hope, _ he says, shaking his head disapprovingly at her, and there’s enough indignation flaring in her eyes to tell a whole story. He takes the stairs at a jog like he thinks one of them is going to chase him down. Whether he thinks it’ll be Hope who he just metaphorically threw under a bus or Hank with one arm in a sling, Hank doesn’t know.

“Scott?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re full of shit.”

“Oh, yeah.”

He knows Scott skips the bottom step, like always; the telltale thud gives it away. They stand there like awkwardly-placed statues and don’t look each other in the eye. Only when the front door has shut behind him does Hank turn to his daughter apprehensively, brows furrowed in a deep frown, his mouth already opening to ask her what the hell is going on. Except he can’t help but notice that Hope looks…  _ happy. _ Happier than he can remember seeing her in a long time.

Seeing that, his original bluntly-phrased question dies right there on his tongue. “Nothing’s happening?” he asks, just to check.

The wince is even a little visible, despite Hope’s knack for keeping her emotions from showing on her face. “Nothing at all,” she assures him breezily, but she’s lying. He feels this little swell of pride that he can  _ tell _ it’s a lie. This is just a clear sign that he and Hope are figuring their own problems out, and he likes that. Once upon a time, he would never have known when his daughter was lying straight to his face.

Up until Germany, they keep whatever it is that’s brewing between them hidden away from Hank’s eyes, and he’s damn grateful for it. He likes being able to pick out moments when he can see that Hope is happier, but he doesn’t enjoy the more in-depth implications of it all. Thinks they’re a strange match, really. Scott is smart when he’s applying himself to a situation but he’s also sort of an idiot, easily distracted, full of little jokes that don’t strike the right chords every time. He doesn’t understand how he manages to nudge his way past all Hope’s walls when it took Hank himself  _ years, _ and sometimes he catches Hope smiling to herself when Scott says something that’s  _ not actually that funny. _

So maybe Hank doesn’t get it, but he’s observant enough to see how Scott helps to soften her out of the hurt that’s solidified around her since she was young. He appreciates that being around Scott opens her up, although he doesn’t fully understand and he doesn’t get to see all of it. But Hank and his daughter have been steadily working at repairing the mess left between them after Janet’s disappearance, working on the Wasp suit, trying to figure out how they could get her back now that Scott has taught them that it’s possible. So he sees more than he lets on, and he just lets it happen instead of pushing and prodding for information.

And then Germany happens. Scott steals the suit they never took back from him because they  _ trusted _ him, and jets off to fight all the superheroes in the middle of a damn airport just so he can say that he helped Captain America, and he gets caught. Of course he does. There are consequences for jumping into a situation without thinking – Hank grumbles about  _ that _ out loud on a rambling loop while he and Hope pack up and figure out how to disappear right off the grid. Hope, for her part, is just quiet, icy.

The work that they’ve put into fixing up what’s left of their family allows Hank to focus on that. And so he  _ notices. _ He notices, after the Accords, how she curls in on herself. He notices the guards go back up, one by one, the smiles harden right out of existence. She’s pissed at Scott for going to Germany, just like Hank is – but the difference is that she’s  _ sad, _ too. Maybe even heartbroken.

They don’t talk about it, because Hank doesn’t even know how to begin, and it’s awkward, and it’s not like he knows all the details about their relationship (was that really what it was?), anyway. He never fully understood whatever bond she and Scott had forged between themselves, and he’s not about to ask her for the details when she’s so determined to focus on getting into the quantum realm.

In fact, they don’t talk about Scott at all. They try not to mention his name even once.

A handful of times, Hank catches himself just in time. It’s hard not to, when Scott is the whole entire reason that they know the quantum realm is something that can be  _ survived _ at all. He catches Hope, too, the name appearing on her lips without thinking. “Sc…,” she starts, and then stops abruptly every time when she realizes what she’s saying. It happens more often when she’s tired, or in the slow lulls between packing up the lab to relocate. This is how it goes for nearly two years.

And then they get  _ that _ phone call. About Janet. And everything changes.

Hope grits her teeth and insists that she will go get him. This goes off without a hitch, except that she spends the entire time giving Scott the cold shoulder and refusing to look directly at him. No matter; it’s temporary. They just need more information about this strange dream he’s had – and then they just need to get the lab back from Ghost (and then Sonny and then Ghost again). Everything happens very quickly, and while Hank is most definitely focused on the task at hand and getting his wife back, he’s also far more attuned to his daughter than he has been for most of her life. He sees how each moment near Scott thaws the icy exterior just a  _ tiny bit _ more, and is a little proud of himself for noticing because, truthfully, he’s not sure that  _ Hope _ even picks up on it. Her denial runs deep; they have that in common.

There’s something undeniable about the way that she and Scott keep  _ looking _ at each other. About the way they fall back into a rhythm side by side, despite not having spoken for two years, and despite Hope’s clear efforts  _ not to _ in the beginning. Hank calls them out for a few times and their reactions are nearly comical, but getting to Janet is the most pressing matter, and he’s distracted from whatever  _ that _ is, for the most part.

But later, when he’s got Janet back, she asks about it. About them. They can see their daughter talking to Scott in the distance, how they hover so close together without touching. It’s easy enough to sense how important they are to each other without being able to hear a word. And while Hank doesn’t know exactly how to describe that situation, it feels natural to smile when he tries.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me happy! just if you have a sec for that. you can also subscribe to me as an author if you'd like to be notified whenever i get around to posting something new, because i promise i have other things in the works! if you want, you can also find me on twitter (@deboceans). thank you so much for reading!


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